Soluble-type hepatobiliary contrast agents for MR imaging

✍ Scribed by Christoph de Haën; Luigia Gozzini

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 991 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1053-1807
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.1880030130

✦ Synopsis

CONTRAST AGENT-ENHANCED abdominal magneiric resonance (MR) imaging is likely to improve detection and diagnosis of liver disease. Recent research ha,s shown MR imaging to be potentially useful for quantitation and localization of diffuse liver disease and for noninvasive assessment of hepatic function. However, the primary scope of liver imaging today is the detection of malignant focal lesions, possibly against a background of diffuse liver disease. Such malignant lesions should be distinguishable from nonmalignant ones, such as hemangiomas, focal nod-u1a.r hyperplasia, and hytadid cysts. Imaging may additionally reveal sites of biliary occlusion and bile stones.

Of primary interest is the detection of liver metastases and, in particular, their number. The presence of no more than five enables one to consider a partial hepatectomy. In such cases, the questions crucial for surgery concern their location with respect to liver segments and major blood vessels. Finally, one might be interested in the pathologic nature of the lesion. Tbe lack of specificity of present therapeutic procedures, however, relegates knowledge of the pathologic type of metastasis to mere academic interest.

The scope of a contrast agent must be to increase lesiion conspicuity. Obviously, increased conspicuity enables detection of smaller lesions, and, in this re-Index terms: Contrast enhancement -Contrast media * Contrast media.